creme de menthe

Cocktail Advent 3: Candy Cane Cooler

Sips

I can generally take-or-leave candy canes, but the soft, pillowy, melt-in-your-mouth peppermints that this cocktail uses are one of the few “hard” candies that I truly love.

Image via NoMa Social

Image via NoMa Social

Candy Cane Cooler

Ingredients:

  • 1 tbs crushed soft peppermint candy
  • 1½ fl oz vodka
  • splash of white creme de menthe
  • ¼ fl oz brandy
  • ½ fl oz half-and-half
  • Crushed ice
  • Peppermint stick for garnish
  • Mint sprig for garnish

 

Directions:

Combine the vodka and crushed peppermint.  Stir to dissolve.  Add the remaining ingredients, stir and garnish.

This recipe comes courtesy of NoMa Social, a restaurant in New Rochelle, NY, who is running a 4×4 promotion between 4 and 8 pm each evening throughout the “winter season.” While I understand the potential global reach of blogging, I generally don’t post promos from restaurants outside of my little corner of the continent since I cannot vouch for them, personally. So this Cocktail Advent series is really the only time a pitch like this would ever see the pixels of day here on ScrapsOfLife!

I’m fairly certain you could sub any non-dairy milk for the half-and-half in this recipe and that it would scale quite well into an entire pitcher of peppermint pink-ness. Maybe switch the garnish to a peppermint patty for whenever you plan to watch a Charlie Brown Christmas special?

***This recipe was submitted by a representative of NoMa Social. I am in no way affiliated with this restaurant nor have I been compensated in any way. As always, we promote responsible refreshment and the use of the Designated Driver. No drunken monkeys, please!***

Cosmic Cocktails | Aquarius | The Bleeding Heart

Sips

As we wind down our trip through the cocktail cosmos, we come to our next-t0-last sign: Aquarius.

The Bleeding Heart, Aquarian Cocktail

Symbolized by the water-bearer, Aquarians often find themselves happiest when helping others–both in face-to-face, person-to-person encounters as well as large-scale humanitarian efforts that benefit many. They also tend to be incredibly idealistic, but with follow-through: eschewing businesses that employ third-world factory labor, for instance, or even those without corporate recycling programs. With this idealism can come a rigidity, though, that we wouldn’t normally expect in an air sign.

What is in line with their air-sign brethren is the propensity to do their own thing, society be damned. Often ahead of the curve, if you find an Aquarian you click with on something, watch them! They will spot trends and spout truths yet to be proven and be off on the next thing by the time it catches on. But you have to be quick, our Aqua slips down that stream of consciousness and keeps moving right along.

Loyal friends, once you’re in sync with an Aqua you can count on them for life. They are often strikingly handsome, though not always in a conventional sense, and often so likable, even if you don’t agree with anything they say. “New Age” medicine is much more their speed, when ill, than the more Westernized “there’s a pill for that” theory, even to following not-exactly-legal sorts or regimens.

Now, if you happen to be born between January 21st and February 18th and do not recognize yourself in the above, have no fear. Probably the most over-riding feature of Aquarius is their different-ness. Not just from all the other signs, but within the sign, from member to member. It’s not even a matter of being outwardly quirky, sometimes the individuality is more subtle, in a can’t-quite-put-my-finger-on-it way.

The Bleeding Heart

2 oz Vodka
1 1/4 oz Banana Liqueur (like 99 Bananas)
1/4 oz Creme de Menthe (clear)
2 oz Club Soda
1/8 oz Grenadine

Combine vodka and the liqueurs in a mixing glass over ice and shake until icy. Stir in the club soda, then strain into a chilled cocktail glass. Pour the grenadine (preferably homemade or locally-sourced) over the back of a bar spoon or add with an eye-dropper. Swirl just before ready to drink.

I mean bleeding heart in the best possible sense, of course, but you probably already figured that out.

Making your own grenadine is not tough at all (equal parts pomegranate juice and sugar, cook until sugar dissolves and the mixture reduces by half–simmer slow or you’ll end up with more of a brown mixture–and a splash of orange flower water to finish) and worth it, especially if you like Shirley Temples and other non-cocktails.

This drink might sound a little bananas, but it’s bracing, gets straight to the point, and is definitely ahead of it’s time. Strong-willed, too.

Cheers!